Miyamoto Musashi Beating Whale by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

"Sakata Kaidomaru" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

This work is an ukiyo-e print that Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s (1798-1861) drew the swordsman in the early Edo Period, Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645). Kuniyoshi made the prints based on the legend of the extermination of whales. The large whale lays down on the three-panels screen, and the white splashes express the whale’s intense movement. The sea surface is rising like a wall and rough enough to lose our sense of equilibrium, while dark clouds are hanging over in the sky which is cut out at the top right corner of the screen. But Musashi’s expression on the back of a whale has no shadow of anxiety and is full of confidence.